Best Albums of 2021

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Explore the best albums of 2021, based on over 2 million album rankings across 60,000 charts.
Last updated: 4 hours ago

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2021 year summaryThe best artists of 2021 were Little Simz, Black Country, New Road, Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra, Tyler, The Creator, Japanese Breakfast, Squid (2020s), Weezer, Black Midi, Low and Magdalena Bay.

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11.

I Don't Live Here Anymore

The War On Drugs

"A hypnotic, 80's reboot dreamscape that feels completely innovative for 2021. Like lost in a maze that I don't care about getting out of. Best album for me in 2021." Reply

chisholm.matt | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

282 charts

Rank Score:

1,406

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,241

Average Rating:

77 (205 votes)

Comments:

12.

By The Time I Get To Phoenix

Injury Reserve

"Damn. If this isn't album of the year, I don't know what is." Reply

teague | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

194 charts

Rank Score:

1,334

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,294

Average Rating:

78 (199 votes)

Comments:

13.

Blue Weekend

Wolf Alice

"The production on this thing is great, no question. The performances are excellent, as well. But as I listened to this over and over, I realized that the songwriting here is just not for me. These songs kind of bleed together, with none being bad, but there aren't any real highlights, either." Reply

HoldenM | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

249 charts

Rank Score:

1,315

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,312

Average Rating:

77 (214 votes)

Comments:

14.

An Evening With Silk Sonic

Silk Sonic

"There is real joy in listening to an album that the artists clearly loved making. Bruno Mars' natural smoothness and Anderson Paak's instrumental creativity compliment each other perfectly. Vocally, they bounce off each other above funk cuts that feel like they've been there forever. "Smokin' Out..." [+] Reply

- titansaurs28 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

244 charts

Rank Score:

1,311

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,314

Average Rating:

76 (219 votes)

Comments:

15.

Glow On

Turnstile

"I'll preface this by saying I am not a big hard rock fan. I like some punk, but I mainly dabble in alt-rock, indie rock, and some dream pop. However, I think this album does a great job at blurring the hard rock and dream pop lines. The songs aren't playing just to knock you down nor are they the..." [+] Reply

- BrandonC375 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

215 charts

Rank Score:

1,245

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,385

Average Rating:

77 (169 votes)

Comments:

16.

Sinner Get Ready

Lingua Ignota

"This is truly a work of art . Very operatic, very modern. Emotionally one of the most powerful albums in a long time." Reply

- pinkfreud1981 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

172 charts

Rank Score:

1,181

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,451

Average Rating:

77 (171 votes)

Comments:

17.

Happier Than Ever

Billie Eilish

""Happier Than Ever" is a maturation of Billie Eilish's sound. The writing is much more emotionally vulnerable and nuanced. Much of the record is focused on post break up feelings and reflection, lending a humanity previously not seen in her work. The instrumentals spread into more acoustic and ro..." [+] Reply

- titansaurs28 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

244 charts

Rank Score:

1,177

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,456

Average Rating:

73 (229 votes)

Comments:

18.

The Turning Wheel

Spellling

"No one would have ever cared about this album if it wasn't for Fantano, at least it got the recognition it deserved." Reply

- DJLogs95 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

194 charts

Rank Score:

1,174

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,460

Average Rating:

79 (223 votes)

Comments:

19.

G_d's Pee At State's End!

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

"sorry in advance for the following: (Basically, I liked it. Everyone or nearly everyone reading this knows who this band is and what Post rock is and that this band and that genre are linked inextricably. It's a solid album. Leave now unless you want to read my unending comment which starts in 3....""sorry in advance for the following: (Basically, I liked it. Everyone or nearly everyone reading this knows who this band is and what Post rock is and that this band and that genre are linked inextricably. It's a solid album. Leave now unless you want to read my unending comment which starts in 3... 2... ) 1... ---------I don't know how I feel about this album. Not exactly. Same goes for this iconic band. And, as this band's work encompasses all existence and transcends life and is up in the ether hobnobbing with Infinity itself per their most ardent fans, I suppose this means I don't know what to think of life, the universe, or anything. Which, come to think of it, is true. But, to elaborate, I don't know where my thoughts fall yet after 2 listens to this album about urine of god ending states. As with all GY!BE albums, this is a detailed and many-layered beast, grasping for questions and answers rarely asked or sought in rock music. All this without saying a thing. On first listen I was transfixed and transported and when the album ended I said "well, shit" and wondered if this was going to be my end-of-year number 1 album. On second listen my subjective response was a bit muted. Although, certain crescendos (they sure do love their crescendos and builds... don't worry this won't be yet another annoying nerdy asshat rant about "Crescendocore" and "oh, oh, this has been done, like, a million times, gosh!" or "wtf can't anyone hear that this is not gooood? it's nothing compared to Tortoise." blah blah blah. Don't worry, I can't stand those people as much as you can't stand them. ) and moments are just as mindboggling on second and now third listen as they were in my first. The things that maybe I was less engaged with were the shorter and less "buildy" songs, or, rather, parts or pieces. Although without exception each one of these tracks/parts, short and long, are rich and well-conceived, some of the hors d'oevre tracks left me less than blown away. I suspect this is an opinion that will change or at least develop with repeat listens and perhaps I'll start mentally stitching this newest Godspeed conception together. For now though some of the sounds at the beginning of the 2 main 20 minute pieces didn't engage me a whole lot. But see, as I write this I am listening a third time, and you know what? I'm already starting to feel my opinions shift mercurially as I type. Damn you, Godspeed! Now I'm wondering again if this is AOTY contender. And this vacillation is making for a REALLY shitty comment. (Future self, 1 hour after typing last sentence, I end up yet again in between Really solid and AOTY, as of now, after 4 listens, its like top 10 album of year, okay lets continue and see what other crazy shit this wild ginger says...) Let me talk through a couple of these tracks here and see if that helps clarify my opinions... Okay, starting with the end, "OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)" is a pitch perfect, tear-inducing, muddy, noisy, serene and haunting ambient piece and a perfect closer to the album. The last minute of this thing made me feel like Frodo rolling out of Rivendell with the boys. Now going back toward the beginning, I thought the opening bit with the word Military in the name, wasn't particularly special even 4 listens in, but finally 20% into "Job's Lament" shit starts getting tense and maybe i'm just too simple for this post rock stuff, but I get most hyped about those HEAVY bass notes and that staticy guitar as it builds up to the muscular close of that track. This leads into the first "Holy Shit...is you angels?" moment of the album for me, when the guitar comes searing in with the faint sound of voices melded in, that is a nice moment. Brilliant, really. Only lasts for a couple minutes, then some cool down from that high and then some gunshot noises annnnndddd close first big suite. The in-between track that follows and is jammed betwixt the 2 MEGA post rock suites "Fire At Static Valley" is quite nice. Its not the same level as the closer, but quite gorgeous. Okay, and then as for the second big suite, I probably won't go into detail what I thought of each piece within like I did with the first, but I can say that almost everything about "GOVERNMENT CAME pretentious coordinates or something" is dope. Almost all 11 minutes of it was candy to me ears. The first 5 minutes are build up and pretty good build up as it has that dark power that is what I loved about F#A# Infinity, but its all foreplay to the moment when the soaring guitars, well, when the guitars soar. lol. Then they do that post rock thing where it gets intense and then more intense and then more and at some point you notice you're not breathing, you're eyes are squinting unflatteringly, and you're mumbled "Stop, No, I can't take it!" turns into euphoric shouts of "No, don't stop! don't STOOOOPPPP!!!!". Its orgasmic is what I'm saying. And just like orgasms, despite being played out and ever so familiar, they're quite good. From there there is more slow noodling as if they're getting themselves ready for another go-round, followed by another (less impactful, yet still gorgeous) epic crescendo. And then BOOM! We are back to where we started, which was the end, and that final god-tier ambient closing track. The name is silly, but Idk maybe I am just basic. Seems pretty weird. The cover is, on first glance, underwhelming - BUT, I like it now that i look at it. has a certain circular, symbolic meaning. Said symbolism and cover maybe influenced my hackneyed attempt at such a round-about structure to this comment and track break down. And as far as how this fits/ranks in their discog, well I'm far from a mega fan of this band. I like/love their 1997 album because it has the word blues in one of its songs and that is an instant winner in my books. I love their 2000 album, but of course I'm contractually obligated to say that on this site and on this internet. But in all seriousness I haven't listened to Lift Yr Skinny Fists in years, but there was a time when I was in love and thought I'd discovered the holy grail of music when i heard that. Never heard Yanqui I don't think, and I really like their legendary 1999 EP although I've only heard it once and can't say what I liked about it. When I first joined this site in 2012, I was caught up along with almost every other BEA member in the recent release of Allelujah... Don't Bend Ascend. As a matter of fact, I believe that was the VERY FIRST album comment I ever made on this site. I loved it and still do tbh. I adore how fucking brutally heavy that album is. Haven't heard their 2015 or 2017 offerings. All that is to say I don't really feel I have any strong context or freshness to any relative quality assessments. I will say that I really really liked this album. It hit me at the right time and I am very glad its in my life. I am still not someone who will get excited about Post Rock when placed as a genre on an album, as a matter of fact I kinda avoid such albums. Not sure why. Maybe I like music that is more immediate and less drawn-out than what that genre tag evokes. Anyway, this will end up being the most unstructured (aka least structured) of all my 2021 chart/album comments and my longest and my most deserving of ridicule and the one with the most bad English (which is saying something). I will close by saying, "cool album". The highs are heaven, the lows sound like somewhat by-the-numbers GY!BE things analogous to a nice serene Nebraska cornfield. Oh and one final added comment, regarding the general darkness or vibe of this album, I felt like it was the least dour, apocalyptic of the albums I've heard by them. All their albums have some moments of soaring beauty, but I felt this had several that felt almost religious and not in a end-of-days type of way either. Anyway, I have seen comments saying this has a a deeply dark atmosphere, and maybe that is just a personal reaction thing, but I personally found it refreshing how GY!BE sounded a little less morbid this time around. cool album" [+] Reply

Mercury | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

216 charts

Rank Score:

1,120

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,528

Average Rating:

77 (209 votes)

Comments:

20.

Safe Mode: On

A Beginner's Mind

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine

"A very unique and interesting idea for an album, that you have to praise for its experimentation. The music itself is also of a very high quality and it is back to being delicate and beautiful like we used to know it to be. There are some real highlights on this record as well such as Back To Oz ..." [+] Reply

- Untitled | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2021

Appears in:

211 charts

Rank Score:

1,084

Rank in 2021:

Rank in 2020s:

Overall Rank:

1,588

Average Rating:

79 (193 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 2 of 100

Best Albums of 2021 composition

Artist	Albums	%

Various Artists	6	1%
Arca	4	0%
Neil Young	4	0%
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard	3	0%
Jane Remover	3	0%
Can	2	0%
Summrs	2	0%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	443	44%
	196	20%
	52	5%
	46	5%
	33	3%
	24	2%
	21	2%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	986	99%
Yes	14	1%

Live?	Albums	%
No	977	98%
Yes	23	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	987	99%
Yes	13	1%

Best Albums of 2021 chart changes

Biggest climbers Biggest climbers in top 100 since last month
Up 3 from 102nd to 99th The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows by Damon Albarn
Up 3 from 92nd to 89th Stand For Myself by Yola
Up 3 from 55th to 52nd Death By Rock And Roll by The Pretty Reckless

Biggest fallers Biggest fallers in top 100 since last month
Down 3 from 51st to 54th The Million Masks Of God by Manchester Orchestra
Down 2 from 78th to 80th King's Disease II by Nas
Down 2 from 79th to 81st A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals by Sweet Trip

New entries New entries in top 100 since last month
Up 3 from 102nd to 99th The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows by Damon Albarn

Leavers Leavers from top 100 since last month
Down 1 from 100th to 101st For Those I Love (2021) by For Those I Love

« View best albums of 2020View best albums of 2022 »

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